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Tag: Social Conscience

Making a Difference: CNN Hero of the Year 2009 and Order of Lakandula Awardee Efren Peñaflorida Jr. and his Pushcart Classroom (First published in July 2013) Efren Peñaflorida Jr., CNN Hero of the Year 2009 and Order of Lakandula Awardee for his pioneering “pushcart classroom” among street children in the Philippines, recently shared his extraordinary story before members of the Philippine community at the Embassy of the Philippines in Nairobi, Kenya. Efren, the middle child of a tricycle driver and laundrywoman/vendor, grew up poor near a dumpsite in Cavite City. At age 13, long bullied by neighborhood and school toughies, he thought of joining a street gang who would protect him. Luckily, Club 8586, an organization helping street children and out-of-school youth found him first. This group, mentored by Bon Manalaysay, was to change Efren’s life and make him realize gang life was not the solution to bullying, to poverty, to alienation. So when Efren was 16 years old, together with friends, he formed the Dynamic Teen Company in his campus. From within his school, his group slowly evolved into reaching out to street children – some as young as 9 years old – who were being groomed by gangsters for petty crime. The Dynamic Team Company started offering alternative activities like reading and writing along with games and snacks in places, usually the streets, where out-of-school youth congregated and hung out. At first, Efren and his group carried what few books they had as they held their… Continue reading